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Wollongong triathlete Charlotte McShane timed her run to perfection to become Australia’s latest triathlon world champion in London on Thursday.

Scottish-born McShane, who emigrated with her family when she was 15 to live in Bairnsdale in country Victoria, broke away from a group of five others to clinch the gold medal in the Women’s ITU Under 23 World Triathlon Championship.

“I knew I had a good sprint so in the end I just backed myself and I won, I can’t believe it, I’ve never won anything before,” said McShane, one of four Australian training partners in the race.

“I wasn’t prepared to go, I was just waiting for the other girls to make their move and when they did I knew I could pounce and match them.”

McShane hit the final 100 metres and stormed away to beat Canadian pair Ellen Pennock and Amelie Kretz.

Of the three other members of Jamie Turner’s Wollongong Wizards group, Tamsyn Moana-Veale finished eighth, Grace Musgrove 12th and Natalie Van Coevorden 14th.

Earlier, a mud-splattered Jacob Birtwhistle produced a brave performance to get back on his bike for a fast finishing sixth in the Junior Men’s race.

The 18-year-old Launceston schoolboy crashed on the first lap of the 20km bike course and was also hit with a 10-second penalty for not putting his wetsuit in the designated box.

“That didn’t go according to plan, that’s for sure,” said a frustrated and bitterly disappointed Birtwhistle, showing the muddy and bloody wounds from the Hyde Park.

“Whatever could have gone wrong did go wrong.”

European champion Dorian Coninx of France won from Scottish pair Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon.

In the Junior Women’s race West Australian Jaz Hedgeland fell just five seconds short of a podium finish.

She was fourth behind triumphant American Tamara Gorman, Georgia Taylor-Brown of Britain and German Laura Lindeman.

“I set myself the goal of winning the gold medal,” said Hedgeland.

“So I am disappointed to finish fourth but I left nothing out there. I’ll be back next year having another crack.

“I was well up in the swim and worked really hard on the bike but when it came to the run I just had nothing in my legs.”

The home side, seeking to level the two-match series, were 121 for four in their second innings after earlier dismissing Pakistan for 230 at the Harare Sports Club.

Mawoyo (58) and Hamilton Masakadza (44) were aggressive in forging a strong 104-run second wicket partnership for Zimbabwe to give them a real chance of setting Pakistan a tough target to chase for victory on a wicket expected to deteriorate.

But they both lost their wickets late in the day just when they looked set to return to the crease on Friday.

Mawoyo, who has struggled in the series since returning from injury, survived several close calls, including being dropped by wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal off the bowling of Saeed Ajmal, as he showed a return to form.

But he fell to a ball from Abdur Rehman that skidded on and trapped him leg before two overs from the close. Masakadza was similarly caught on the front foot four balls later and then night watchman Tinashe Panyangara was dismissed without scoring, bringing the third day to a close.

Pakistan were 163 for three overnight, in reply to Zimbabwe’s first innings total of 294, but hopes of a full day at the crease on a docile surface were dented when captain Misbah-ul-Haq (33) fell soon after the new ball was taken and Younus Khan (77) was caught by Mawoyo at mid wicket off Panyangara.

Pakistan’s last six wickets tumbled for only 19 runs as Vitori returned figures of five for 61 and Panyangara got two wickets with successive balls.

Vitori is only the second Zimbabwean bowler to take five wickets in a test innings since 2005.

The planned 60,000-seater stadium is to be the centrepiece of Brussels’ bid to host matches during the 2020 European soccer championships, replacing the current 45,000 capacity King Baudouin stadium.

The venues are little more than a kilometre (1 mile) apart, but while the present stadium is in officially bilingual but largely French-speaking Brussels, its planned successor is in the exclusively Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

Flemish politicians are bristling at the thought of Brussels extending its francophone culture beyond its borders, leading Flemish Sports Minister Philippe Muyters to say language rules must be respected.

“One of the underlying elements should be an agreement on the use of Dutch there,” Muyters, a member of the Flemish separatist N-VA party, told the television programme Terzake on Wednesday, hours after the agreement was reached.

Rudi Vervoort, premier of the Brussels region, responded in an interview on La Premiere radio station on Thursday, saying ‘Dutch only’ could not be the rule at a national stadium.

“Dutch will be secondary, as French will be secondary. We will mainly talk English,” he said. “The stadium will not be brought down by the use of languages.”

Language is a frequent flashpoint in Belgium, where the wealthier Flemish majority fiercely protects its Dutch language and culture and is constantly on the look-out for encroachments by French speakers, particularly in areas surrounding Brussels.

The country went for 19 months without a new government after 2010 elections due to differences between French-speaking and Flemish parties.

The issue has flared again as politicians seek vie for votes at next year’s regional, European and federal elections.

Earlier this month, the council of the Flemish district of Menen, which borders France, decided that it would no longer tolerate the use of French in its town hall, saying anyone who did not speak Dutch must rely on hand gestures instead.

“Our objective is the same, it’s Champions League qualification,” he told a news conference ahead of Saturday’s home game against Norwich City.

“Our level of expenditure in the transfer market raises expectations but they have to be real expectations, not false expectations,” added the Portuguese.

“We don’t have the experience to deal with the pressure of a team that plays for the title. We have never done it, you know, in these recent years and we will compete as usual for Champions League places…”

Tottenham finished fifth in the league last season and missed out on a Champions League place to North London rivals Arsenal.

They are currently sixth, with six points from their three matches after losing 1-0 at Arsenal this month.

They have sold Wales winger Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world record 100 million euros $133.08 million and re-invested the money in a list of new signings, including Argentina forward Erik Lamela from Roma for a club record 35 million euros.

Villas-Boas said it might be too early for the 21-year-old to start on Saturday.

“He is a player with tremendous potential that we have to work on,” he said, pointing out that Lamela had limited English and still had to adapt to his new surroundings.

“We are pretty sure he will be able to do (that) but we are unsure of how much time it will take,” he said. “The fact that he has yet to train with the team puts him in a very difficult position to start the game but not impossible.”

Newly appointed FA Chairman Greg Dyke last week cited the influence of foreign players in the Premier League as one of the factors holding back the England team.

England’s only major trophy was in 1966 when they won the World Cup on home soil.

“There is a strong desire to see greater numbers of England qualified players coming through their Academy systems that are capable of performing at both Premier League and international standard,” Premier League Chairman Anthony Fry said on Thursday.

“There is no doubt around the Premier League table as to the benefits of a national set-up that is thriving and performing well,” Fry added.

Dyke, a former television executive, spoke to Premier League chairmen and chief executives at one of their regular meetings in London on Thursday.

“We already know there is a lot of good work going on but I suspect there is more to be done,” Dyke said after the meeting, welcoming the commitment from the Premier League.

The Premier League is the richest in the world but there is frustration among fans about its clubs’ failure to produce as many good young players as rivals do in countries like Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

Critics argue that the financial rewards of the Premier League encourage teams to buy in foreign players as a short cut to ensure survival or success.

The Premier League is investing 340 million pounds (339 million pounds) to try to improve its academies. It points out that it is only one season into this four-year programme to find the heirs to players like David Beckham and Michael Owen.